State buying large woodlands tract in Jefferson

JEFFERSON -- The state has purchased from the Paulist Fathers almost 1,200 acres near the Morris-Sussex border, a tract that environmentalists had coveted for years.

“We were very excited,” said David Epstein, president of the Land Conservancy of New Jersey. “It’s been worth the wait.”

The deal, reached last Friday, calls for the Paulist Fathers to receive $12 million from the state’s Green Acres fund for their property in the Oak Ridge section of Jefferson Township, one of the largest tracts of private land remaining in Morris County.

The property is mostly woodlands and includes hiking trails and a 12-acre pond.

“It is a pristine piece of land,” said Eileen Swan, executive director of the Highlands Council. “It is such a great piece of property. Kudos to the Paulist Fathers who have maintained it for all these years.”

The Paulists, a small Roman Catholic ministry, were founded in 1858 by Isaac Hecker. Their mission, according to Father John Foley, who has overseen the Jefferson property for the last nine years, is to blend the values of Americanism and Catholicism.

The Paulists purchased the property in 1924 for $50,000, Foley said, and used it as a seminary until 1997 when operations moved to Washington D.C. Since then the property had primarily been used as a private retreat, a place to appreciate the serenity and spirituality of nature.

It was, however, costly, and Foley said the ministry was losing about $200,000 per year because of property taxes and maintenance costs. Foley said tracts larger than five acres owned by religious groups are not exempt from property taxes.

The land sits off Mt. Paul Road and connects Sparta Mountain Wildlife Management Area with Mahlon Dickerson Reservation, one of its prime attractions to environmentalists.

“It creates a corridor of what has to be about 8,000 acres,” Epstein said. “What’s great is now you can have hiking trails and it’s good for wildlife habitat. There are really a number of public benefits.”

The DEP said that 1,133 acres will be public parkland managed by the Division of Parks and Forestry out of Kittatinny Valley State Park. The remaining 41 acres will be leased to an environmental manager and used for educational purposes.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for the public to appreciate the property, its solitude and its beauty,” said Larry Hajna, spokesman for the DEP.

The fathers will remain on the property until July 2010, Hajna said.

“It’s the end of an era,” Foley said, “but it’s time for us to be moving on.”